I’m not gonna’ stop posting about flood relief dinners, breakfasts, parties, events, happy hours or anything else that raises money for the cause. If Shotgun Willie’s sponsors a strippers-for-flood-relief benefit, it’s getting the full Colorado Table treatment, which is quite a thing to behold but, alas, does not involve garters and 10-spots.

Have your after-work cocktail at the HandleBar on Monday. Have another. Why not? It’s what they call a win-win – flood victims get help, and you get a few belts, some slider-type eats, and maybe some fresh pomade in your hairdo. And that singular, pleasing Aveda aroma, the one that every product seems to broadcast, no matter the list of ingredients. The lemongrassy thing smells the same as the cedarwood thing.

Humboldt Farm Fish Wine has only been open a week, and already the joint is hosting a benefit. Way to go. The restaurant, which fills the old Strings space on 17th Ave., raised more than $1,100 for Colorado Flood Relief and the American Red Cross on Tuesday night. Guests noshed on items from the menu, nibbled passed-around apps, and tossed back boozy beverages, and the money they spent went to people hit by the horrific floods.

Want to help kids whose Boulder school was ravaged by the floods? Eat at PastaVino. (PastaVino)

Homes were swamped, garages swept away, roads torn to clumps. And the floods in Boulder damaged some schools, too.

Crest View Elementary, in North Boulder, was the hardest hit. I drove by the school a few times after the floods, and wondered if the school would ever open again. Water and mud inundated the place.

It took a few weeks, but Crest View opened its doors to its 600 students again at the end of last month. Kids are crawling across jungle gyms again, and teachers are showing kids how 1 plus 3 equals 4. But the place still needs financial help.

Here’s where a Boulder restaurant, and you, come in. Head to PastaVino, a charming Italian spot on Pearl Street, the week of Oct. 14 for a $30, three-course meal. A portion of the proceeds gets funneled back to Crest View.

The floods are nearly a month-old now, but many people still struggle with moldy basements, mud-splattered living rooms and much worse. Every little bit helps.

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The event will include local food trucks and an outdoor bar featuring beer from Breckenridge Brewery, plus wine and other beverages, with proceeds from food and beverage sales going to disaster assistance funds. The happy hour runs 5 p.m.-7 p.m., followed by outdoor dining on the square at 7 p.m. And for John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John fans, there will be a 7:30 p.m. screening of “Grease” on a giant screen.

Reservations are still available at such participating restaurants as The Capital Grille, Corridor 44, Ocean Prime, TAG, Rioja, Bistro Vendome, Tamayo, Ted’s and Tom’s Urban 24.

Larimer Street will be closed all day Sept. 26 between 14th and 15th streets to set up for the event. A suggested $10 donation will also be donated to flood relief funds.

When it comes to helping flood victims, we’ll take just about anything offered, including a Colorado lamb chop lollipop served with warm fingerling potato salad, red onion and arugula tossed in a mustard sherry vinaigrette and finished with a maple Dijon cabernet au jus.

Even better – every dime of the $22 we drop to buy that lollipop at the restaurant Ocean Prime on Larimer Square in downtown Denver goes to flood victims. The deal takes place on Thursday, Sept. 26.

We will like the dish, but we will appreciate where our money is going a lot more.

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The Kitchen in Boulder is holding a fundraiser for flood victims. (Cyrus McCrimmon)

Rain collapsed the roof, and badly damaged part of the compound of buildings that together hold three Kitchen restaurants on Pearl Street in Boulder: The Kitchen, The Kitchen Next Door, and The Kitchen Upstairs. The joints were closed until this week, but now all three are open again, and tonight between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. all profits from Next Door get funneled to Colorado flood victims, said owner Kimbal Musk.

“People were relieved when we opened. The town is so depressed right now,” said Musk. He said he plans to hold more fundraising events for Boulder in coming days and weeks.

Musk said insurance should help pay for the damage to his restaurants, primarily at The Kitchen Upstairs. He was more concerned about his employees, who missed a nearly a week of work and are wrestling with their own flooding situations. It’s something facing restaurateurs and workers across Boulder. Expect to see plenty more restaurant-spawned fundraisers in coming weeks.

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Smashburger, the popular burger chain with locations around Colorado, is offering first responders free meals at all its Colorado locations. The offer, good through Wednesday, is in gratitude for the workers’ efforts during the the devastating floods of the past few days.

It’s a simple arrangement: If you’re a first responder, show up at participating Smashburger locations, show your agency ID, and you get a free entree, side and beverage.

“The flooding that started on Thursday in Boulder County is a terrible situation,” Smashburger CEO Dave Prokupek said in a press release. “Colorado is Smashburger’s home, so we want to show our thanks for the efforts of our extraordinary first responders by offering them free food and a place to take a break and charge their cell phones and other mobile devices. These are our heroes, and we appreciate their hard work during this very difficult time.”

Obtaining safe drinking water is a major concern in the wake of Colorado flooding.

In the wake of Colorado’s epic flooding, thousands of residents have real concerns about the quality of their drinking water — even if they still have working taps in their homes.

The American Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency suggest three proper ways to treat drinking water: boiling, chlorine bleach or distilling. (The latter method isn’t efficient if you need to purify large amounts of water, which will be the case with many flood victims.)

Making water safe requires a combination of physical filtering, boiling and/or chemical treatment. One of the best compilations of creating safe drinking water can be found at this website, which was created in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Here’s one important thing that those of us living at altitude should know. While 5 minutes of a hard rolling boil — bubbles of water coming up from the bottom of the pot — suffices at sea level, you should add an additional minute for every 1,000 feet you are above sea level.Read more…